Boston University athletic director Mike Lynch is following a path that many schools have chosen when looking for new basketball coach - hiring a search firm.
According to sources at BU, Lynch has contacted Parker Executive Search, a company based in Atlanta, to help find a replacement for Dennis Wolff, who was fired last Wednesday.
Lynch declined to comment yesterday, adding via email that he would make no public statement until the search is over, which is expected to be in 2-3 weeks.
Parker Executive Search has been used by major schools such as Indiana, Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, and Minnesota in their quests to find new coaches in recent years.
It also makes a point of telling its clients - who pay as much as $75,000, plus expenses, for someone else to do the vetting process - that it prides itself on maintaining a low profile during the procedure.
But it does promote itself on its website with a story of past successes, including finding Kelvin Sampson for Indiana, which seems an odd decision considering that the Hoosiers were hit with major sanctions by the NCAA for recruiting violations by Sampson. He since has been dismissed and replaced by former Marquette coach Tom Crean.
BU must work out a settlement on the four years remaining on Wolff's contract, which could be as much as $1.2 million. Add the cost of the search firm and the money for a new coach and his staff and the total starts to rise.
The search is likely to be somewhat low profile, with assistants from major schools such as Louisville, Pittsburgh, and Boston College likely to be on the list. Two of Louisville coach Rick Pitino's assistants, Richard Pitino and Walter McCarty, have expressed an interest in the job, as has BC assistant Pat Duquette.
Other candidates who could emerge are former Harvard coach Frank Sullivan and former Providence head man Tim Welsh, who yesterday said he definitely would be interested.
